Reprinted from Bantu Studies, December, 1932. Customs and Beliefs of |xam Bushmen

Reprinted from Bantu Studies, December, 1932. Customs and Beliefs of |xam Bushmen

Publications and Reports

Comparable to Dorothea's use of the archive culminating in 'The Mantis and his friends' (1924), she edits and curates previously unpublished kukummi (stories) spanning the many Bleek-Lloyd texts for periodicals like Bantu Studies. In this article, she focuses on Dia!kwain and |hanǂkass'o's contributions to the customs and beliefs surrounding winds, clouds, and the practice of wind-making (Roger Hewitt in Bank, 2006: 263). Many instances throughout the notebooks attest to |hanǂkass'o's profound connection to rain-making, clouds, and cloud-reading through the rain-makers or rain sorcerers associated with his lineage. Dia!kwain's first wife, Ssu !kuï-ten tta (Mietje/Mietche), was the granddaughter of the ostrich-like and singularly wind-blessed |xannan |xannan (UCT BC151 A2.1.072, 5861a). His father was also 'taught' rain-making by a receptive 'dead' (dying?) rainmaker called !nuin|kúïten, who Andrew Bank rationalises as an elder, likely making Dia!kwain's father (Xaa-ttin) a conduit or sorcerer in his own right (Bank, 2006: 265; Lewis-Williams, 1990: 86; Chapman, 2003: 26; UCT BC151 A2.1.063, 5068v-5078).

Ink on paper

1932-12

An ±A5 staple-bound booklet (TS) soft-covered in olive green cardstock.

Bantu Studies (reprinted), |xam (customs and beliefs), customs, beliefs, sneezing (ǁkabbo dictates about), ǁkhabbo (alternative spelling for ǁkabbo), omens (of death), wind-making, clouds (|hanǂkass'o discusses), Strontbergen (Bushman from the), Dia!kwain (and |xannan |xannan), |xannan |xannan (she resembled an ostrich), |hanǂkass'o (discusses the winds)

A 1932 reprint of Dorothea Bleek's (editor) article for the University of the Witwatersrand's journal Bantu Studies. The article derives from materials collected by Lucy Lloyd in the following notebooks: ǁkabbo in L. II-6 (634-653); Dia!kwain in L. V-15 (5110-5146); Dia!kwain in L. V-21 (5654-5659); Dia!kwain in L. V-23 (5841-5845v, 5858-5871); ǀhanǂkass'o in L. VIII-1 (6096-6097); ǀhanǂkass'o in L. VIII-8 (6725-6769 & 6769v); ǀhanǂkass'o in L. VIII-18 (7594v-7595v); and ǀhanǂkass'o in L. VIII-23 (8018-8020, 8030-8031). |xannan |xannan (a wind sorceress) was a contemporary of Dia!kwain's grandfather, living among their people at the Sak River. |xannan |xannan (also: |xar̃r̃aŋ|xar̃r̃aŋ), alternatively ǂnáä-an, was likely Mietje's paternal grandmother, making |xannan |xannan Kkoä-ken's mother (Deacon, 1996: 33; Bleek, 1932a: 249; Bleek, 1932b: 334; L. V-23, 5858-5871). Dia!kwain's second wife, Johanna, came from the Katkop area.

DF Bleek